Netscape

Netscape Communications (formerly known as Netscape Communications Corporation and commonly known as Netscape) is a US computer services company, best known Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California. The name Netscape was a trademark of Cisco Systems.

Netscape's web browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but lost most of that share to Internet Explorer during the first browser war. By the end of 2006, the usage share of Netscape browsers had fallen, from over 90% in the mid 1990s, to less than 1%. Netscape developed the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol (SSL) for securing online communication, which is still widely used, as well as JavaScript, the most widely-used language for client-side scripting of web pages.

Netscape stock traded between 1995 and 2003, subsequently as a subsidiary of AOL. However, it became a holding company following AOL's purchase of Netscape in 1998. The Netscape brand is still extensively used by AOL. Some services currently offered under the Netscape brand, other than the web browser, include a discount Internet service provider and a popular social news website. In December 2007, AOL announced it would no longer be updating the Netscape browser. Tom Drapeau, director of AOL's Netscape Brand, announced that the company would stop supporting Netscape software products as of March 1, 2008. The decision met mixed reactions from communities, with many arguing that the termination of product support is significantly belated. Internet security site Security Watch stated that a trend of infrequent security updates for AOL's Netscape caused the browser to become a "security liability", specifically the 2005–2007 versions, Netscape Browser 8. Asa Dotzler, one of Firefox's original bug testers, greeted the news with "good riddance" in his blog post, but praised the various members of the Netscape team over the years for enabling the creation of Mozilla in 1998. Others protested and petitioned AOL to continue providing vital security fixes to unknowing or loyal users of its software, as well as protection of a well-known brand.